


Dream of Me, My Darling...Continued

by Ladygoshawk



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M, Lemon, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:22:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22432561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladygoshawk/pseuds/Ladygoshawk
Summary: Kagome's done a lot of thinking since that weird night in the forest. Just when she thinks she's got it all sorted out, and maybe even half a plan for moving forward, someone gives her a whole lot more to think about. Can't a miko catch a break?
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/Sesshoumaru
Comments: 39
Kudos: 490





	1. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thetroll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetroll/gifts), [Revang](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revang/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Dream of Me, My Darling](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22397725) by [thetroll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetroll/pseuds/thetroll). 



> So, this is not my fault! It's all Troll's fault, I tell you!
> 
> This is a direct continuation of her fic "Dream of Me, My Darling" and is posted with her (entirely too enthusiastic) permission. This can probably be read on its own, but it might make much more sense if you go read her bit first!
> 
> Seriously, why could I not just leave well enough alone?!?

Kagome heard a distinctive thump outside her door and looked up wearily just as a clawed hand swept the bamboo curtain aside. She sighed and reached for another cup.

“Hello, Inuyasha. Would you like some tea?”

“You know I don’t like that crap,” the hanyō groused as he stepped inside and let the curtain fall back into place. “Tastes like boiled grass.”

Niceties dispensed, Kagome shrugged and went back to preparing her own tea. She had barely seen Inuyasha over the last couple of weeks, since the last time he’d wanted to “make the relationship work” had ended in her strange encounter with Sesshōmaru. They’d barely had a relationship before that, what with Inuyasha alternately acting gun-shy and like a bear with a sore tooth since her return from the future. His behavior that day and since had put paid to any ideas she’d still cherished about a romantic future with him.

The hanyō stumped into the hut and dropped into a seat across the fire from her. “We gonna talk about this, or what?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, realizing as she did it that it might look similar to one of Sesshōmaru’s trademark expressions. The thought made her realize she could sense the daiyōkai somewhere nearby. She often had, especially lately, though her sense of him always seemed faint as though he meant to conceal himself – but not from her. Whether that was deliberate or not, she had no idea, but she figured he hung around sometimes to check in on Rin. She’d spent an awful lot of time thinking about the Lord of the West since that weird night in the forest. Wistfully, she gave her head a little shake and returned her attention to the conversation at hand.

“Talk about what?” She knew what he wanted, she just wanted to hear him say it.

“You know…” Inuyasha fidgeted, knee bouncing in agitation. “Us.”

_Oh, very enthusiastic,_ she thought wryly. “You really want to talk about it now?”

“I figure now we’re here, you won’t find a village in trouble to get out of it.”

Her temper flared. “I’ve been _here_ , Inuyasha. You’re the one who’s been kiting off who-knows-where the last two weeks. I know for a fact there aren’t _that_ many villages around here with demon problems.”

He glared, but his ears flattened. She’d probably stolen the teeth out of his excuse for why he hadn’t been around. Waving a hand at him, she pulled the steaming kettle off the fire. “It doesn’t matter, so forget it. I don’t want to hear it anyway. I’ve known for a while now what I wanted to say about this, and honestly, the last time you wanted to have this talk just solidified it for me.”

“What?” He blinked at her as if surprised.

“Yep. Did you want to go first?”

His ears flicked backward warily. “Uh, no… Go ahead.”

“Great.” She set the kettle aside and reached for the tin of tea. “I’ve always done the hard work between us, anyway, so I might as well do the last of it. So. Us. If you want to stay friends, that’s fine by me, but beyond that it’s become very clear to me that there is no ‘us’. Not anymore, in my mind, and I’ve started to think there was never a romantic ‘us’ in your mind, anyway.”

Inuyasha blinked again, mouth dropping open in obvious shock. “Huh?”

She nodded. “I spent a lot of time letting my feelings, and then what I thought my feelings should be, get in the way of—well, pretty much everything, I guess. That’s my fault. I finally realized it back when you got mad at me for wanting to save that village, though, and I’ve had a lot of time to think everything through since you did your disappearing act. I’m thinking a lot more clearly now and…”

Pausing, she frowned at him. He looked a little bit glazed, like he’d been hit in the head by a falling building. “Inuyasha? Are you listening?”

“I…” He blinked several times but didn’t seem to focus much better. “Uh, yeah, I’m. Yeah.”

Dubious, she picked up her cup and blew gently on its contents. A cautious sip proved it was just the right side of drinkable temperature. “Anyway, my point is, you can stop worrying about it now. How did you put it last time? Oh, right. ‘I ain’t gonna wait on you.’ I guess at some point, I decided the same thing about you. And I’m okay with that.”

“You are?” His eyebrows did a sort of dip-and-hop-and-dip-again that would have been hilarious if she didn’t fully expect an explosion at any moment. “Wait, what? You _are?_ With… What?”

She sipped her tea calmly. “Do you need a minute?”

He stared at her, gaze darting over her face as if expecting her to laugh about her joke or burst into tears. She had no inclination to either; she’d spent her tears for the dead relationship over the last couple of weeks, and she could find nothing to laugh about in this. Knowing about it beforehand did not make the conversation any easier. She waited quietly.

“You…really are,” he finally breathed after a long moment. “Since when?”

“I’m…not really sure.” She shrugged. “I had a lot of hope after Kikyō finally passed on, but you were grieving, and then things happened really fast and we didn’t get a chance to talk it out. Then I was stuck at home for a while, and I nearly gave up then. Maybe that’s when. When I realized the Well had opened back up, I thought all the hope came back again too, but…”

She shook her head. “I just can’t keep doing…what we’ve been doing. It hurts too much, and I deserve better. We both deserve better. So I’ve let it go. I’m done, Inuyasha. We can be friends if you want, but that’s all we’ll ever be.”

_Oh, here it comes_ , she thought as his expression darkened.

His hands closed into fists on his knees. “Who is it?” The words sounded oddly compressed, as if he had to fight to get them out.

Her turn to blink in confusion. “What?”

“Who?” Now he snarled. “Who is it you think is gonna accept you, a weak-ass miko past her prime?”

She sucked in a sharp breath, shocked. “Inuyasha! What the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s that mangy wolf, isn’t it? You think he’s gonna come sweepin’ in here an’ take you back to his dirty cave as his mate, don’t you?” The snarl had become a growl. “Joke’s on you, though. You’d only ever be second-best to him, too, ‘cause he already went an’ mated that Ayame!”

Deliberately, she set her tea cup down on the floor at her knee. Deep breath in, hold, out long and slow. Once more. And a third time. When she finally looked at him again, he stood against the wall of the hut, ears flat and hands fisted at his sides. She folded her hands in her lap.

“That, right there, is probably why I let go without realizing it.” She kept her voice steady and level. “I knew I would never be more than your second choice, just Kikyō’s replacement. You have never wanted to see me as just _me_.”

He growled again. “You promised to stay with _me!_ I’m not lettin’ Kōga or anyone else take you away! You’re mine!”

She straightened in her seat, lifting her chin slightly. “I don’t belong to you or anyone, Inuyasha. What I do or do not do with my life from here on has absolutely nothing to do with you except as a friend, but if you keep talking like this, you’ll even lose that much. That’s your only warning.”

For a long moment, she sat there watching emotions chase each other across his expression. When his snarl had eased into tight lips and jaw, she nodded once firmly. “As it happens, there isn’t anyone. I have an interest in someone _who is not Kōga_ , but I haven’t talked to them about it and I sort of doubt they’d want what I want, so it isn’t likely to matter, anyway. This conversation is just about me and you. And you look like you need to get out of my hut until you decide whether you still want to be my friend or not.”

He snarled as he vanished through the doorway, half tearing the bamboo curtain down as he went. She sighed and got up to fix it.

_That’s probably the last I’ll see of him for another week or two._

As she wearily banked her fire and rolled out her futon a half hour later, she sent a tiny tendril of reiki out, seeking. To her surprise, she didn’t have to reach very far before her power encountered the tightly contained yōki she sought. With a light pat and a gentle squeeze of her power on his, she bade the lurking daiyōkai good night.

The answering stroke of his power on hers sent her into slumber with a smile.


	2. New Life, Who Dis?

The first gift, an expertly butchered rabbit wrapped neatly in its own skin, appeared just inside her door the morning after her conversation with Inuyasha. She found no note or card or anything to tell her who had left it. Concern it had come from Inuyasha made her hesitate to use it but when she spread her reiki out over the village, he seemed to have done what she’d expected and fled the village entirely. She sensed only Kaede in her hut, Sesshōmaru exactly where he’d been when she went to sleep last night, and the usual dim lights of Rin and the other villagers.

Surprising her once more, the touch of her reiki seemed to stir a response from the Western Lord – his yōki slid along her power much as hers must have his. It made her giggle a little giddily. The dismembered rabbit became a lovely breakfast with enough left over for a suppertime stew. She would use the fur to make a muff for her hands for the next winter.

The second gift appeared the very next morning, just inside her door exactly as the first had. A colorful, prime male pheasant, gutted properly but with the beautiful and useful feathers intact and not a single drop of blood visible anywhere. Another search for Inuyasha yielded the same result, including another brush of yōki from the lurking daiyōkai.

Each day, she awakened to a new gift of food. Though her curiosity had her trying to work out how to catch whoever left them, she never managed so much as a glimpse. They always arrived after she’d succumbed to her own fatigue and well before she awakened with a start to resume her interrupted watch. She had nothing but a sneaking suspicion to speculate over.

By the sixth day (two quail), she’d stopped looking for Inuyasha and only sent her reiki out for her morning dose of yōki. Amused at herself even as he responded, she wondered how long he would play this silly game with her. He’d certainly hung around the village a great deal longer than usual, this time. If he was concerned about Rin for some reason, why didn’t he simply come into the village and speak with his little girl?

On the seventh day (two lovely, ripe melons), she grew bolder and reached out to him several times over the course of the day. Every time her reiki touched him, his yōki touched back, mirroring hers. Every response made her giddy again. Not even breaking the tip of her favorite herb-harvesting knife on a hidden rock could dampen her mood.

For day eight, the gift changed. A new harvesting knife, nearly identical to the one she’d broken but much sharper than she’d ever kept the old one, lay wrapped together with an intricately carved wooden comb in a fine but sturdy cotton cloth. Her suspicion grew, even if she couldn’t quite make sense of it yet.

She spent the day amusing herself by playing tag with Sesshōmaru’s aura as she moved around the village, tapping him and then rushing to withdraw so he’d have to chase her. To her delight, he played along, and even caught her by surprise when he reached out to tap her reiki while she soaked in a hot spring near the village. Fortunately, none of the village women were around to hear her startled squeak followed by joyous laughter. She hadn’t felt this good in years!

In the morning, a basket stacked full of fine cotton towels, washing cloths, and item-wrapping cloths appeared inside her doorway. They were perfect replacements for her simple, linen and hempen toweling. She couldn’t quite stifle a delighted crow at the discovery. When she stretched out her reiki, she covered the entire village all the way out to where Sesshōmaru lurked, and left it that way, blanketing everyone it touched in her good mood. His yōki spread out a little in acknowledgement and it might have been her imagination but it felt…maybe slightly smug?

Her suspicions firmed up a little more. If only she could _catch_ her mysterious gift-giver! More and more, she wanted to thank them for the thoughtful gifts and ask why they would do so much for her. By now, it wasn’t just the gifts themselves. Acknowledging the fact that she’d let Inuyasha go and breaking the news to him had been difficult. Between the gifts and the energy games she’d begun playing with Sesshōmaru, who continued to amaze her by responding every time, her mood had risen to an all-time high.

The next several days saw an array of practical gifts – baskets and finely carved boxes perfect for storage, replacements or improvements for damaged or second-hand household items, better tools, and the like – delivered together with food gifts much like before. There was so much, so regularly, so secretively, she felt all but certain of who her benefactor was. She didn’t really know how to approach him, though, and so she contented herself with thanking him through her little game of small touches of her reiki on his yōki.

Day by day, she grew accustomed to dragging “fingers” of reiki over his aura, brushing a light “caress” of power against his, delivering teasing taps or playful “tickles”. Eventually, she simply reached out to him one morning and wrapped a little of her power around a little of his. It made her blush when she realized it felt a little like holding hands, but his power closed over hers and didn’t withdraw. They ended up staying in contact like that until she fell asleep that night.

When she woke, it was to an _entirely_ _different_ sort of gift.

A cedar bathing bucket and caddy sat innocently on the floor beside her door. In the bucket lay the softest, most absorbent towels and _real_ sea-sponges she’d ever seen. The caddy held stoppered crystalline bottles of scented oils and lacquered boxes of delicately scented soaps she _knew_ were not available in Japan at this time. They had to be imported at exorbitant cost! This was… This was far too much!

But now, she could no longer doubt. For some unfathomable reason, Sesshōmaru, Great Dog General and Lord of the West, was her mysterious benefactor. Literally no one in or around the village, not even Inuyasha, could have brought her the bathing things that now lay in her possession.

“I have to go talk to him…” The thought slipped out in a strangled whisper. “Right now. I can’t… This is too much. I have to… What is he doing?”

She dressed quickly, readying for her day with a little more care than usual. If she was going to go beard the dragon – dog – in his apparent den, she should at least appear as if she wasn’t about to fly apart with nerves. Besides, there could be a perfectly logical, _normal_ explanation for this. He’d only fed her and basically refurbished her entire hut except for the structure itself for the last two weeks. Surely that didn’t mean…anything…

_Nope! I will just go thank him for everything he’s done and come out and ask him why he’s done it. There is no sense in getting all worked up over what might be a simple…weird…gesture of friendship. This is_ fine _. Everything is fine._

She bustled through her door and headed straight for the beacon of yōki only she seemed able to sense, lately. In a few minutes, she would have her answers. She could figure out what to do about them from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This thing was intended to be a short oneshot. We see how well that worked out. There will be at least one more part to this, I think, and *hopefully* around 1500 or so words. Unless it runs away with me again, in which case...well, it's anybody's guess. Troll, this is ALL your fault!!


	3. Step By Step

Seated against a tree on a hill with a clear overview of the entire village, Sesshōmaru watched his miko exit her hut and march determinedly in his direction. He knew she must have discovered her newest gift, though she had not yet reached out to him with her formidable reiki as she had thus far been wont to do. Still, now that they had progressed to this point, perhaps the time had come for…closer contact.

He pretended disinterest as she approached, though he marked every step, every nervous breath. Her nervousness did not surprise him, but it did make him wonder. Would she truly pretend she did not understand?

“Good morning, Lord Sesshōmaru!” She called out brightly, tone a match to the just-risen sun.

He turned his head enough to acknowledge her presence. “Miko.”

She beamed at him. Vaguely, he wondered why he had allowed so many foolishly trivial factors to delay his pursuit of this female. Clearly, she would make the chase worthwhile. “You’re obviously aware I’ve noticed you’ve been around a lot more, lately. Are you worried about Rin for some reason?”

Such a foolish path to denial amused him. “Rin flourishes under your care and that of the elder miko. There is no concern.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good to hear.” Her cheeks took on an extra hint of color as her aura unfurled slightly. She had taken the compliment. Excellent. He returned his gaze to the overlook of the village, though he left his attention on her as she hesitated.

He allowed the silence to stretch between them, then decided to goad her a bit. “You will fray your sleeve if you continue that treatment, miko.”

She started, eyes widening as she dropped the abused sleeve from between fidgeting fingers like it had taken fire. He suppressed a chuckle. After another short moment, she seated herself an unfortunately respectful distance from his side. “Actually, I came up here because I have something I’d like to say to you. And something to ask you, too.”

“Hn.”

“Um, so, first things first, I suppose.” She inhaled deeply. “I…want to thank you for all the gifts you’ve left me, the last couple of weeks. They’re all really, really useful and...and tasty. I appreciate them a lot.”

He held himself still, waiting, knowing the silence would get to her.

“And… I… Today’s gift, it’s… It’s beautiful, Lord Sesshōmaru, but it’s too much. I can’t accept something so expensive! What I wanted to ask is…um…why? Why…give me all these things?”

He turned his head to look at her fully, one eyebrow raised. “Why would this one leave gifts for you, miko?”

She blinked. “Er. That’s what I’m asking, my Lord.”

As if unconcerned, he deliberately returned his gaze to the wakening village. “Is it not the custom of gifting to give items the giver wishes the recipient to possess?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“Then it seems logical to assume that is the reason for what you have been given.”

Another startled blink and then a small frown. Her expressions were so changeable. He knew she possessed the intelligence to arrive at the correct conclusion. His only questions now were how long she would require to reach it and whether she would accept him immediately or require some measure of convincing.

He found both possibilities appealing in their way.

“That’s…a very literal way of thinking of it.” Her tone and scent held the faintest edge of disappointment. It was good that such impersonality disappointed her, but he would not let it stand. “But I’m asking about your motive.”

“It is one way.” Would she take the hint? Rin was due to come out of the elder miko’s hut at any moment. He rose smoothly and turned to move back into the trees, pausing to look directly at her once more. “Why _would_ this one leave gifts for _you_ , miko?”

As he continued into the trees, her reiki followed. It touched his power tentatively, questioning, unsure. Unacceptable. He had rather stay at her side to bask in both her presence and her power, but he had orders to give and other arrangements to make so this would do for now. He wrapped yōki around the frail finger of her power and gave a gentle, insistent tug.

After a single beat, she responded with more power. It wrapped around his as it had yesterday, settling comfortably into place as though it belonged there – which it did.

He had required much time and thought, as well as the impetus of that single surprising night with her in the forest, to understand this simple truth. He could not begrudge her whatever time she required to arrive at the same understanding. She would, and he could assist her along the path.

* * *

Moving in silence with his yōki wrapped so tightly around himself he would be nearly imperceptible farther than a few inches away from his skin, Sesshōmaru delivered a neatly wrapped silken bundle to Kagome’s hut as soon as he sensed she had fallen deeply into slumber. It contained several changes of yōkai-treated cotton hakui and hibakama, for everyday wear, as well as two yukata with appropriate obi in colors and patterns becoming of her coloring. Every piece of cloth in the bundle including the silk wrapping would repel soiling and resist or repair damage in the same way his own clothing did. He’d included a short note this time, since she’d finally acknowledged him as her benefactor.

_"These will not fray."_

It pleased him to see the items he had already given her spread around her hut, most clearly in regular use. The containers of bathing soaps and oils she had objected to as “too much” sat in prominent view atop a chest against one wall. They appeared untouched, but he could see in the dim light of the hut that they had certainly been moved around in their carrier, likely unstoppered and unpacked for delicate test sniffs. She had, cautiously, accepted them after their conversation that morning.

Excellent.

She lay sleeping on the other side of the banked hearth on a worn-looking futon. The light quilt appeared somewhat threadbare, as well, and had slid down to her waist as she slept. Her sleepwear gapped slightly over her chest. The tantalizing glimpse of skin it permitted forced him to suppress a growl and required all of his formidable control to move no farther than her doorway. He had found the way her reiki permeated her hut and its immediate vicinity difficult enough the first few days, but that…

He allowed the bamboo curtain to fall back into place and turned to make his way into the forest. A hunt seemed in order. He would add a haunch of deer or boar to her gift before she woke. Tomorrow, he would arrange to replace her futon and quilt.

* * *

She came to him again the following morning, warm reiki preceding her in a vast wave. Her cheeks held slightly more color than usual, and she moved with a determined set to her shoulders. He had to suppress a satisfied growl when she came close enough for him to see that she wore the new clothing and looked very well in it. His gift had pleased her.

The basket she carried brought with it a myriad of scents, some conflicting badly with others from the same source. A lesser being than he would have sneezed or moved away. He leapt lightly down to her side and took possession of the basket.

“Oh! Um, good morning, Lord Sesshōmaru. You don’t have to do that. I can carry it. I got this far with it, after all.”

“Hn.” She blushed charmingly at that, and he wondered fleetingly when he had allowed such a word as ‘charming’ into his thoughts. “You can. You did. Now, come and sit.”

She peeked up at him through her lashes as if unsure whether he truly meant what he said. He simply waited. After a moment, her expression lit with a smile as her reiki swept around him. He flexed his own power to match and moved at her side as she made her way up the hill to where they had sat the day before.

“Here, let me just get this…” She reached into the basket for the cloth that lay on top, which she unfolded and spread over a generous area of ground. He noted she included in that area the position he’d taken yesterday, against the tree with an overlook of the village. She settled atop the cloth and, apparently satisfied, beamed up at him.

“There! Thank you for carrying that for me. Put it here, please. And thank you for the clothes. They’re amazing. I’ve never felt anything quite like them. What are they made of?”

He settled on the cloth against the tree, not quite at her side but still closer than yesterday, pleased by the knowledge that she’d clearly come with the intent to spend some time with him. “They are spun and woven of cotton, created by yōkai.”

“Oh, they are! I’d wondered.” She began pulling loosely bundled herbs out of her basket, laying them out on the cloth around her. As she sorted through them, occasionally removing stems or leaves to discard, she spoke cheerfully about Rin’s activities and progress. He listened attentively, content to do so while basking in her proximity and the gently tantalizing ebb and flow of her reiki against his yōki.

Near perfection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, this thing is officially a runaway horse. Dog. I already have people agitating for a fourth chapter even before I've posted this one! We shall see, but I've been weak over this thing the entire time, so...


	4. I might? He was?

Kagome spent the next week increasingly bewildered as she continued to receive gifts every morning. A new futon and all the bed linens she could possibly need throughout the year in cottons, silks, and furs. Better tools, furnishings, and storage for both her hut and her work. Decorative hair sticks, pins, and combs made of precious and semi-precious materials in designs so intricate she could hardly believe they were made in this time period. Extravagant kimono she could not imagine ever having reason to wear, though so beautiful she couldn’t bring herself to refuse them, either. Most of the gifts were practical or at least useful, barring the kimono, but also of the very best possible designs and materials for their purpose.

Nearly every gift included some form of food, usually game meat. Once, a chest containing an entire year’s supply of rice. By now, Sesshōmaru had fully clothed her and then some, replaced every item in her living space but the hut itself, given every tool she could possibly need, and provided most components necessary for her meals. As it was, if she hadn’t _wanted_ to go out and about doing things, she had nearly reached the point where she wouldn’t have to lift a finger more than absolutely necessary for daily life.

The villagers had begun to talk, she knew they had. She’d given out her used but still perfectly good things to various families, so it hadn’t turned spiteful or malicious that she knew of, but she worried about what might happen if it did.

All this, and she still didn’t have a good answer for the all-important question: _Why?_

She’d taken to spending at least half her day with the stoic daiyōkai in the hope of receiving an answer, or at least some insight, but so far his first response remained his only response to that question. The look in his eyes always seemed to warm whenever she showed up to spend that time, though, more so when she wore or carried one of the most recent gifts. He seemed to like knowing she used what he brought. If she were completely honest with herself, some part of her not only liked having his attention, she liked seeing the signs that she had pleased him.

Which also seemed terrifying.

It took her another few days to work out why it scared her. When it finally hit her, she sat on her picnic blanket on the hill above the village that had become “theirs” in her head, tipping single doses of medicine into folded paper envelopes with Sesshōmaru sitting placidly at her side. He’d spent the morning looking through one of the science textbooks she’d brought from home, fascinated by the contents and occasionally reading a passage out loud for explanation or discussion. All things considered, he’d taken her explanation of her origin with characteristic aplomb.

_I’m really going to miss him when he finally finishes whatever he’s here for and goes back…wherever home is,_ she thought fondly, warmth flooding through her as she added another packet to the box of its brethren. _I wish he could stay here with me._

It took her a moment to hear it, and then it became _all_ she could hear. She went alternately cold and then hot as the words echoed in her ears. _N-No. That can’t… What am I thinking?_

She pressed her hands to her cheeks. _Where did that even come from? He obviously cares for Rin and he’s saved me and the others a time or three. He’s changed his views since I first met him, I can’t deny that. These last few weeks have been really nice and all, but that’s… I mean, that’s all a far cry from…from…_

He may have stopped outright hating humans, but that didn’t mean he’d entertain a human’s feelings for him.

_It’s just that he’s been so nice to me, that’s all. He’s protected me a few times, and recently he’s been giving me things he decided I should have. It’s really very sweet, and I’ve let it run away with me._

“Miko.” His voice broke into her thoughts, sending a jolt through her that combined weirdly with the following thrill up her spine.

After a moment of struggle, she forced herself to turn her head to look at him. “Y-Yes, Lord Sesshōmaru?”

“What distresses you so?” Golden eyes seemed to look right through her, though they also held concern. She felt her face warm further.

“U-Um, no, nothing! It’s nothing! I’m fine!” _Oh my god, Kagome, get a grip! Could you sound any_ less _fine?_ She took a breath. “U-Um, I just. Had a ridiculous thought I’m embarrassed to have thought, that’s all. It’s really nothing. I’m just going to put it out of my head.”

“Hn.” His eyes narrowed just a fraction and though he didn’t move, it almost seemed as if he leaned closer to peer into her face. She bit her lip and looked away, face flaming under her palms.

After a long, painful moment, he tapped a claw on the page in his lap. “Explain this passage, miko. It appears to contradict the theory in the last chapter.”

Forcing herself to concentrate on what he read aloud, Kagome did her best to get her hands moving on her medicinal task again. Still, the thought had gotten in and she couldn’t help the tiny little part of her that hoped against hope. Even if it was totally impossible. For the rest of the morning, she stole quick, helpless glances at the Western Lord as they sat together on the hillside.

_I think… I might… Have feelings for Sesshōmaru?_

* * *

She started really watching him. A lot. He made it easy, too. Suddenly, he took to escorting her home from the hillside, met her at her door every morning, even strolled at her side if she left the village bounds. Rin was ecstatic to have her beloved Lord around so often but went cheerfully back to her own lessons and duties each day at his gentle word. His eyes held fondness as he watched the little girl frolicking her way back to Kaede.

He was _adorable_.

Their conversations on the hill grew more involved. He really worked her memory of her education by asking pointed questions about the material in her textbooks. They argued classical literature. She walked him through concepts from mathematics to chemistry and physics. He soaked everything up like a dry sponge.

He was _amazing_.

One morning, he apparently felt more talkative than she’d ever known him. A single question about where he actually lived turned into a long, involved conversation about the differences between yōkai and human titles, customs, and traditions. She learned a great deal about his upbringing and what he’d faced after the Inu no Taishō died.

He was _fascinating_.

One morning, she awakened to find no gift waiting beside the door for the first time in weeks. She barely had time to worry, to stretch out her reiki in rising panic, before his voice called quietly, “Dress quickly, Kagome. This day, we must go to your gift.”

She blinked, heart pounding. _He…used my name!_

Wondering what it all meant, what sort of gift he could possibly have to take her to, she dressed as quickly as she could manage and still be presentable. When she stepped through her door, the sky had just begun to lighten. He stood just within reach, holding his hand out to her.

“Come close and hold on to me. We must fly to reach our destination.”

“O-Oh…” She took his hand automatically, startling nervously when he pulled her closer and wrapped her hand around his arm just below his elbow. The ground under her feet seemed to soften and waver suddenly as a cloud formed beneath them, making her gasp and clutch his arm with both hands. Then they began rising into the air and she released a half-hysterical giggle of delight as they overtopped the houses and nearby trees and swung away into the dim light of pre-dawn.

They touched down some time later in a meadow bordered on one side by a precipitous cliff. A fire had been laid and lit a few meters away, fish roasting over the flames and a cloth-covered basket set to one side. Kagome couldn’t help the ridiculous smile that spread across her face when she saw it.

_My gift is a picnic breakfast out here, just the two of us!_ She took two steps toward the fire.

“Kagome.” His voice sent a warm thrill through her. Turning, she opened her mouth to thank him and froze, eyes wide, stunned into silence.

The sun had just risen above the horizon, its golden light refracting through the mist arising from an incredible waterfall on the other end of the crescent-shaped cliff. Sesshōmaru stood there in all his glory, watching her with the barest hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth, haloed in rainbow light and limned in silver.

He was _beautiful_.


	5. No More Fear

_That… That was a date. Oh my god, that was a_ date _! Lord Sesshōmaru took me on a freaking date!_ Kagome had drifted through the rest of her day in a haze after he’d brought her back to the village around midmorning. She’d left her reiki tangled up in his yōki the way it had been when they’d returned. People had commented on her good mood all through the course of the day, too. Everyone had clearly noticed, but it had taken her until bedtime that night to absorb exactly what it all meant.

Sure, she must be dense not to have put it together until now, but she wasn’t _stupid_.

_Well, maybe I am, a little bit. He’s been trying to rom… To r…_ Her mind caught on the thought, refusing to go further as her face heated. Irritated, she closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath. In. Out. _Stop being ridiculous, Kagome. You might not have any experience, but it’s not like you don’t know anything about it. He’s been trying to_ romance _me for weeks, and I’ve been sitting around confused because I couldn’t even think he’d ever have any interest in_ me _like_ that _!_

Except that thinking about it that way didn’t seem quite right. Some part of her mind folded its arms and stared at her, tapping its foot impatiently. She sighed. _Yeah, that wasn’t it. It’s a surprise, but it’s really obvious, and I think I must have known it pretty early on. By the time I started spending mornings with him, anyway._

She fidgeted with the hem of the blanket under her fingers. _I was afraid. Am afraid. What if I’m wrong about it? What if I say or do something and offend him?_

Not quite right, either. _No, that’s not what I’m afraid of. What if I’m wrong, what if I say or do something, and it turns out he doesn’t want me after all? What if…_

Another deep breath. In. Out. Again. _What if I get hurt again?_

But what if she didn’t? What if…she let this happen? What if… The fear welled up as soon as she tried to think it, threatening to become real terror. A sudden flash of irritation knocked it back down to manageable proportions and she focused on her breathing for a few moments. Then, slowly, she let thoughts of Sesshōmaru slip in. Memories. Impressions.

To her surprise, they went further back in time than she’d realized. Both his strange behavior and her own feelings with regard to him stretched back past that strange night in the forest, past her exile in her own time, beyond even the climactic battle against Naraku. The further back she thought, the less significant it all seemed, but from her current perspective she could see the pattern – now that she looked for it, anyway.

_Wow. I guess it’s true what they say, hindsight’s always 20/20,_ she thought as she let her hands fall slack against her blanket. _What am I going to do?_

No, that seemed like the wrong question.

_What do I want to do about this?_

Better. Now. How to answer that question?

_Oh, who am I kidding? It’s not even a question, really, is it?_ Irritated anew with herself, she stuffed the fear her experience with Inuyasha had created into a box in the back of her mind and crammed a lid on it. _That’s past and done. I ended it myself. Inuyasha is no part of this at all. Sesshōmaru is a completely different person._

A smile began, slowly, to tug the corners of her mouth upward. Small at first, it grew as her cheeks warmed. _He’s a person who knows what he wants, no questions asked, no quarter given. And I think… No, I_ know _what I want, too._

Very suddenly, she couldn’t wait. She wanted to tell him, needed him to know immediately. Before she could second-guess herself – she would, she knew it, because she always did – she threw her blanket aside and reached for a yukata while her reiki reached out to him. He responded as she clumsily tied herself into clothing, a warm wrap of yōki carrying the feeling of concern and query together. It made her smile widen further.

Nearly giddy with eagerness, she put everything she could into the contact while she stumbled through her door into moonlight and dashed through the village as quietly as possible to keep from waking half the village. She didn’t want to keep this a secret, but tonight – this first moment – she wanted just between him and her. Everyone would know, but this didn’t need witnesses.

The moon had begun to wane, but only just. She had enough light to keep from tripping on anything and didn’t really need it besides. His yōki beckoned to her, drew her in like a lodestone, and she needed no other guide. He met her at the top of the hill, stepping out of the shadow of the trees where the moon made him a blaze of silver.

“What is it, Kagome?” He sounded tense but opened his arms to catch her when she didn’t slow down. “What is wrong?”

He wasn’t wearing his armor. Just his swords, thrust through his obi. She barreled into him, arms sliding around his waist to hold tight, pressed her face into his chest. Her reiki wrapped around them both in a loose cocoon of energy. “Take me somewhere we can talk.”

His arms tightened around her, not uncomfortably, and his yōki rose around them. She flew away from the village with him for the second time that day. They didn’t go far this time, touching down just outside a cave hidden deep in the forest west of the village. He guided her with one hand in the small of her back through the opening where warm firelight flickered invitingly.

One glance told her the cave had been set up as a sort of long-term camp, rough but made comfortable with furs, a few sturdy cushions, a stacked stone hearth. A small chest sat in one corner beside a low desk. Inkstone, brushes, and a stack of paper lay arranged neatly on the desk’s surface.

Halting near the middle of the cave, she whirled to face him with emotion welling in her chest. “You’ve been living here, so close?”

He turned from setting his swords into a stand beside the entrance, one corner of his mouth quirked upward. She thought her heart might stop. “Even I require sleep sometimes.” He gestured for her to sit. “What has brought you to me so late? Your power is restless, disturbed.”

“ _Yes_.”

He went very still, golden eyes bright in the firelight as he searched her expression. She knew she must be grinning like an idiot, but she couldn’t stop and didn’t really want to. Joyous tears pricked her eyes, too, and she didn’t try to stop them. They didn’t fall, though, not yet.

“Kagome?” he breathed, as if speaking too loudly might change something.

A giggle bubbled out of her, half-hysterical. “I figured out what you meant by all this. The gifts, watching over the village, spending so much time with me, taking me to that meadow this morning. I think I figured it out a while ago, but I was afraid to see it. I’m sorry I took so long.”

She stepped closer, into his space again, and laid her hands on his shoulders to go up on tiptoe and press a firm kiss to the lowest stripe on his cheek. When she drew back, she didn’t go far, merely enough to look into his eyes. “My answer is _yes_ , Sesshōmaru.”

She had a perfect view of his pupils as they dilated and contracted. His hands came up to rest on her hips, firm and warm.

“I wish you for my mate.” His voice held a low, sensual growl. “You will be my Lady.”

“Yes.” She felt as if she might burst with the emotions bubbling in her chest. Every shred of fear in her evaporated with his words. To be pursued, rather than pursuing, and then have her feelings returned without strife or hesitation...it felt better than she had ever imagined and made all the difference. Comparatively, she’d spent a very short time getting to know Sesshōmaru, but she had never felt so certain of anything in her life.

He drew her closer, arms sliding around her as heat sparked in his eyes. “I am going to kiss you, now.”

She felt the delicious rumble of his voice in her chest, where she pressed against him. The look in his eyes sparked a matching heat in her. She could not look away, nor did she want to. “Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo, this thing has run away with me! We're in the home stretch now, though. Quick reminder that this work is rated M, and the reason for that is in the next chapter. If you don't want to read a lemon (it's not explicit, but the business is clear), you can safely skip Chapter 6 without missing anything vitally important to the story.


	6. Stellar Lemonade

His lips touched hers and her eyes slid shut automatically. For a moment, her entire world narrowed to the sensations his kiss evoked within her. Gradually, she became aware of his power touching hers, holding, stroking with varied pressures. Her reiki rose to respond with tentative touches of her own.

Fleetingly, she worried about her lack of experience, about how little she really knew about loving. She had plenty of knowledge simply by virtue of growing up in modern times, but she’d had precious little opportunity to _do_ anything with that knowledge. The sweep of his tongue over her lower lip dissolved those concerns like so much mist, sending a thrill along her spine that made her gasp. He took advantage of the sound to deepen the kiss. She gave herself over to sensation.

His hand smoothed upward over her back, fingers threading into her hair to cradle the back of her head in his palm. The other hand slipped down to cup one butt cheek, his forearm keeping her pressed against him. When they finally parted for breath, he nipped gently along her jaw, then down her neck. The faint scrape of his fangs over her skin drew a breathy moan from her. At the sound, his hold on her tightened almost convulsively. The low growl he released set her every nerve alight and sent warmth pooling low in her abdomen. She whimpered.

Suddenly, she found herself lying on the pile of furs at the back of the cave. Sesshōmaru knelt above her, forearms supporting him on either side. The firelight limned his form, glowed through the curtain of his hair, turning him into a creature of molten silver and gold. His eyes held searing heat and a sort of predatory gleam that made her tremble – not in fear, but with _need_.

Lowering his head, he took up where he had left off, nibbling along her collarbone to the other side of her neck and upward to her ear.

“If you are not yet ready, you must stop me now.” His voice had deepened to match his earlier growls, thick with desire. By the tension in the sound, in his body, he held himself back by the thinnest of threads. A single word from her would snap it in an instant.

It took her a moment to gather enough wit to understand and respond. “N-Now?”

He nuzzled under her ear, breathing her in, then raised his head enough to look into her eyes again. “Now. Do you wish to continue?”

She didn’t need to think about it, knew her answer without any hesitation at all. He could give her everything she’d ever wanted in a partner, had proven he would be a _partner_ , many times over in the last several weeks. Hell, just over this one _day_.

The gifts were fine, even very nice. But what had gone into them made it abundantly clear that he _cared_. He’d noticed what she needed, paid attention to what she liked, and had gone out of his way to find things to answer both. He’d spent time, with her and thinking about her, and he’d demonstrated devotion to and consideration for her by spending all that time and letting her come to her own conclusions about all of it without any pressure from him.

“ _Yes_.”

His mouth came down on hers in a near-bruising kiss that stole her breath. Greatly daring, she lifted her hands to push his kimono aside so she could glide her palms across the skin of his chest, down along his sides as far as she could reach before she pulled him toward her insistently. She wanted to feel him pressed against her again.

At her touch, his head came up sharply and he released a low growl. His eyes washed red for a moment before the lids fluttered closed in an expression of such pleasure that she could only stare. She had done that to him. The most powerful yōkai in Japan, and _she_ had shaken his legendary control with a touch.

He gave in to her, allowing his lower half to settle comfortably against her hips as her legs naturally parted to cradle him there. The new pressure, hip to hip, gave her what she’d wanted while also making his desire for her abundantly clear. Feeling that incredible hardness there, _almost_ where she suddenly, desperately wanted it to be, stole all semblance of thought. She arced against him, wanton, needing _more_.

But most of his weight disappeared, his skin slipping out of her hands, though his warmth remained between her thighs. She bit back a disappointed whimper and opened eyes she didn’t remember closing to find him kneeling there, naked from the waist up, reddened gaze roaming over her body. Which suddenly felt inexplicably cool.

Somehow, on his way up, he’d opened her poorly-tied yukata. She hadn’t bothered with any kind of breast binding in her haste to talk to him tonight, so she lay there before him in just panties, breathing hard and unable to find a single shred of the embarrassment she could only vaguely remember should exist. It just…didn’t, and in the next moment the expression on his face, the look in his eyes, overrode even that faint thought.

For the first time in her memory, his hair appeared a little disheveled. His eyes had reddened, the irises gone turquoise with his power, but his markings remained smooth and clear. The light from the fire outlined every hard edge of him, every line of every muscle in his chest and abdomen in light and shadow. Broad shoulders, narrow hips, defined biceps, magenta stripes at wrists and curving over hipbones, he was _perfect_.

But his expression. Oh, his _expression!_ Like someone starving, presented with a feast. Like a god, at last granted the one thing in all the universe his own skill and power could not bring to him. Like a supplicant…

…to _her_.

She couldn’t bear it. Shaking her arms out of her sleeves, she reached for him, breathless with the love for him that swelled in her chest.

“ _Sesshōmaru._ ”

He fell on her like a tsunami, sweeping her up in sensation, drowning her in pleasure. Clawed hands skimmed over her skin, down her throat, cupping and kneading breasts, buttocks, hips, thighs. Fanged mouth followed in their wake, nipping, kissing, licking, sucking. She explored him as he explored her, memorizing the hard planes of his back and chest with her fingertips, learning the taste of his skin, discovering that if she applied just the right pressure with her teeth, he would growl for her. She found that the sounds he made took on whole new volumes of exciting meaning, that the sounds she made often spurred him to new heights of creativity. Tangling her fingers in the silver fall of his hair anchored her to him when she felt she might float away, and tugging just hard enough got him to apply exactly the right amount more pressure to whatever he was doing at the moment.

She learned what it meant to touch the stars, learned that they grew brighter with each subsequent touch.

By the time he finally joined himself to her, she registered only the vaguest of discomfort, the stretching sensations and feeling of fullness nearly lost in the cascade of pleasure and emotion he’d already soaked into every fiber of her being. When their two powers linked, it felt like a key fitting into its lock for the first time, unlocking a whole new level of connection she had never so much as imagined. They soared, eventually touching the stars together.


	7. Perfect

“Me too, Uncle Yasha! Me too!” High, childish cries and laughter filled the air under the bright summer sun. “Pick me up, too!”

“No fair! It’s my turn!”

“Keh, take it easy, you two. I got two arms, ya know.”

Kagome chuckled softly, careful not to wake the month-old bundle lying in her arms as she watched her twins accost their uncle. It had taken more than a year and several heart-stopping confrontations between the two brothers, but Inuyasha had eventually come around to accepting her mating to Sesshōmaru. Much to her surprise, her difficult first pregnancy had not only sealed his acceptance, it had actually made real peace between the brothers. A completely stunned Inuyasha had even been the second person to hold the newborns Daichi and Sachi immediately after their father had named them.

He still had no idea what to do with a squalling infant, though he did just fine after the little ones started walking.

“Mama Kagome! Mama Kagome!” Rin called out from somewhere behind her, joy in her voice as usual.

Kagome sighed as Kiyoshi startled in her arm, his eyes popping open. Fortunately, Rin dashed around the tree she leaned against, saw the baby screwing up his face, and leaned into his line of sight to coo at him. He relaxed immediately, cooing back and waving one chubby little hand at her. Kiyoshi loved his big sister.

She giggled at him, sending her adoptive mother an apologetic look. “Sorry, Mama. I didn’t think he might be napping.”

“It’s all right, sweetheart. No harm done. What did you need?”

“Oh!” She beamed. “Lady Kaede needs a few things, so she sent me to see if it would be all right for me to go get them from Master Jinenji for her. I promise I’ll go straight there and come straight back. She said she already sent a messenger to him, so he should have everything ready to go.”

Kagome glanced at the sky. Not a single cloud, and less than an hour to noon. She nodded. “Take Ah-Un. Straight there, straight back, and no flower-picking on the way, all right? We’ll expect you back before supper.”

“I promise! Thank you, Mama!” The not-so-little girl threw her arms around her for a quick hug and then ran off, the same bundle of energy she’d always been.

“Hey, look who’s here!” Inuyasha called out a few moments later, sounding a little out of breath. The twins, one hanging from each arm, kicked and swung themselves in an effort to look around without letting go. “Ow, hey, easy with the claws, you two! Let me put you down.”

“Where, Uncle?” Daichi demanded as his feet hit the ground, his nose already in the air to catch any new scents.

“Who’s here?” Sachi demanded right after her brother.

Inuyasha turned them both around and pointed toward the edge of the meadow they’d been playing in. “Right over there. Should be showing up right…about…now!”

Kagome couldn’t stretch far enough to see where he pointed, but the twins both bounced once in place, then squealed. “Brother Shippō!”

“Go get ‘im!”

The twins vanished. They’d both inherited their father’s uncanny speed.

“Whoa, whoa, wait! Let me—WAUGH!” Shippō’s cry sent several birds flapping away in a panic as Inuyasha, snickering, flopped down on the blanket beside Kagome.

“You’re terrible,” she chuckled as he caught Kiyoshi’s waving fist between his finger and thumb.

“Eh, they’re less likely to do him any damage than they are me.” He shrugged, unconcerned. “Brat can take it.”

She chuckled again and settled the baby on the blanket between them so she could stretch her arms. Shifting a little, she got comfortable and tilted her head back to lean it against the trunk of her tree. “Mmmn, it’s a nice day, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” He stretched out on his side, allowing Kiyoshi to wrap his hand around his index finger. For a long moment, comfortable silence stretched between them. Then, “You’re really happy with the big asshole?”

She frowned and reached over to flick him between the eyes. “Language! I don’t care if he’s just a baby, he’s learning from every word he hears!” He flopped over on his back as if she’d knocked him back, and she couldn’t help a giggle at his antics. “But yes, I am. Very, very happy.”

“Whatever floats your boat, I guess.” He made a disgusted face, snickering when she threatened to flick him again. “Okay, okay, I give! You took forever to put the poor bastard out of his misery, though.”

Her face warmed. “A month is not ‘forever’, Inuyasha. Didn’t you complain I hadn’t held out long enough when you finally came back?”

“Well, yeah, but that was just ‘cause I kinda enjoyed watchin’ him twistin’ in the wind like that.” He rolled out of reach of her swat. “What? Just sayin’! Way I hear it, yōkai don’t usually have to wait that long once they start courtin’. It hadda feel like forever, for him.”

“What? How do you even know?”

He looked away, faint color on his cheeks. “I…uh, never told you, but I came back after a couple weeks an’ saw him leavin’ stuff for you. I didn’t know how long he’d been at it by then, so I figured I’d hang back and watch you humiliate him when you kicked his ass out. ‘Cept you took forever, and then you didn’t.”

“Inu _yasha!_ ” She stared at him, aghast. “You jerk!”

“I hadn’t got my head screwed on straight, yet, I guess.” He held his finger out for Kiyoshi again as the infant tried to reach for him, a soft, fond smile curling his lips. “I’m…kinda glad I finally got there, eventually, though. I got a family outta the deal. And…uh…I guess in the end…I’m glad you didn’t kick his frozen ass out, either.”

“As am I, little brother.” The deep baritone came from Kagome’s other side.

“Keh!” Inuyasha disengaged from the baby and rolled to his feet, face distinctly redder than usual. “Why you gotta sneak up on people like that all the time? I’m gonna go make sure the twins haven’t killed Shippō.”

Kagome couldn’t help her laughter as the hanyō took off after the little ones, though she did feel – a _little_ – badly about it. She turned her smile on her mate as he folded himself into a seat at her side, leaning in to wrap an arm around her shoulders and nuzzle her temple in greeting. He laid his hand on Kiyoshi’s chest.

“You really don’t have to sneak up on him all the time,” she chuckled, cuddling into his side. “How did your hunt go?”

“If he paid more attention to his surroundings, I would not sneak up on him so often.” The daiyōkai buried his nose in her hair. “And it was a very large boar. Now, it is a great deal of meat. More than enough to preserve. You are well?”

“Mmn. Rin took Ah-Un to pick up some things from Jinenji for Kaede. She’ll be back before supper. Shippō’s back for his visit, so the twins are with him. And Inuyasha, now, apparently.” She chuckled again and stretched up to kiss his jaw. “Now that you’re back, everything is perfect.”

“Hn.”


End file.
